Establishment and maintenance of nuclear position during zoospore formation in Allomyces macrogynus: Roles of the cytoskeleton

David S. Lowry, Karen E. Fisher, Robert Roberson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

The involvement of the microtubule (MT) and actin microfilament (MF) cytoskeletons in establishing nuclear positions during zoosporogenesis in Allomyces macrogynus was assessed using selective cytoskeletal disrupting treatments and documented with light microscopy. These experiments were coupled with low-speed centrifugation studies to determine the degree to which cytoskeletal elements anchor nuclear position. At the onset of zoospore formation, nuclei were positioned only in cortical cytoplasmic regions of the zoosporangia (ZS). Immunofluorescence microscopy revealed that MTs primarily emanated from centrosomal regions into the surrounding cytoplasm at this stage. During delimitation of the cytoplasm into individual uninucleate zoospores, nuclei migrated from cortical regions to become distributed throughout the cytoplasm. Coincident with nuclear migrations, MTs were primarily organized at and emanated from nuclear surfaces, forming extensive perinuclear arrays. Nuclear migrations were suppressed in ZS induced to sporulate in the presence of cytochalasin D, an actin MF inhibiting compound. Disruption of MTs with nocodazole did not block nuclear migrations, although resultant nuclear spacing was irregular. Centrifugation treatments of control and drug-treated ZS demonstrated that nuclear positions were stabilized by perinuclear MT arrays. The results indicate that nuclear motility in ZS of A. macrogynus is the result of an actin-based system while perinuclear MTs arrays function to establish and fix nuclear position during zoospore formation.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)34-44
Number of pages11
JournalFungal Genetics and Biology
Volume24
Issue number1-2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1998

Keywords

  • Actin microfilaments
  • Allomyces macrogynus
  • Microtubules
  • Nuclear migration
  • Zoosporogenesis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Microbiology
  • Genetics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Establishment and maintenance of nuclear position during zoospore formation in Allomyces macrogynus: Roles of the cytoskeleton'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this